THE SPIRIT OF REFORM

I once met a young Muslim man who worked as a scribe (a professional Urdu copyist for printing). He told me, “I read Al-Risala regularly and I like it very much. But one thing bothers me. You often mention the shortcomings of Muslims. Doesn’t this create an inferiority complex among them?”

I said that you are a scribe. Suppose you do not draw the correct circle for the two letters jeem (ج) and ain (ع). Now, if your teacher points out this mistake, would you say that the teacher is instilling a sense of inferiority in you? He said, no. I replied, that through this personal example, you can understand the articles of Al-Risala. The truth is that the purpose of these articles is not to create a sense of inferiority among Muslims, but to encourage self-improvement in them. And it is a well-known fact that without correcting one’s flaws, no individual or group can progress in this world.

There is an Arabic saying: “The one who advises you is better for you than the one who praises you” (man huwa nasihuka khayrun laka mimman huwa madhihuka). This saying is absolutely true. Anyone who truly wishes well for someone will point out his faults and correct his mistakes. This is the way of a genuine reformer.

The Quran says that to avoid loss (khusr), one of the essential qualities is to encourage one another to truth and to patience (tawasi bil-haqq and tawasi bis-sabr). That is, believers must keep advising one another about truth and patience. Only that community can escape failure and ruin whose members have this living spirit: when they see a brother straying from the path of truth, they correct him, and when they see him losing patience, they remind him of its importance (Quran, Chapter:103).

Among the Companions of the Prophet, the spirit of giving advice—and of accepting advice—was fully alive. Once, Caliph Umar gave a judgment in a case. Ali felt the decision was wrong and objected. Even though Umar was the ruler, he immediately accepted Ali’s correction and said: “If it were not for Ali, Umar would have perished” (Lawla Aliyyun lahalaka Umar; Al-Isti‘ab fi Ma‘rifat al-As-hab, Vol. 3, p. 1103).